| Week | Date | Rank | Rec | Points | FPV | CP | BCS | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre | Aug 17 | 21 | 0-0 | 286 | 0 | 21 | -- | DNP |
| 1 | Sep 3 | 18 | 1-0 | 387 | 0 | 18 | -- | W 58-20 vs Nevada |
| 2 | Sep 8 | 16 | 1-0 | 488 | 0 | 17 | -- | DNP |
| 3 | Sep 15 | 13 | 2-0 | 757 | 0 | 15 | -- | W 41-21 at #23 Nebraska |
| 4 | Sep 22 | 13 | 3-0 | 798 | 0 | 14 | -- | W 59-13 vs New Mexico State |
| 5 | Sep 29 | 12 | 3-0 | 834 | 0 | 13 | -- | DNP |
| 6 | Oct 6 | 11 | 4-0 | 844 | 0 | 13 | -- | W 34-27 at Utah |
| 7 | Oct 13 | 9 | 5-0 | 1017 | 0 | 10 | -- | W 37-10 vs California |
| 8 | Oct 20 | 12 | 5-1 | 832 | 0 | 11 | 12 | L 24-10 at #13 Stanford |
| 9 | Oct 27 | 17 | 5-2 | 489 | 0 | 19 | 20 | L 42-14 at #2 Oregon |
| 10 | Nov 3 | 16 | 6-2 | 515 | 0 | 18 | 19 | W 45-23 vs Colorado |
| 11 | Nov 10 | 13 | 7-2 | 669 | 0 | 15 | 13 | W 31-26 at Arizona |
| 12 | Nov 17 | 14 | 8-2 | 710 | 0 | 14 | 14 | W 41-31 vs Washington |
| 13 | Nov 24 | 22 | 8-3 | 300 | 0 | 22 | 22 | L 38-33 vs #19 Arizona State |
| 14 | Dec 1 | 17 | 9-3 | 510 | 0 | 19 | 18 | W 35-14 at #23 USC |
| 15 | Dec 8 | 17 | 9-3 | 544 | 0 | 18 | 17 | DNP |
| Final | Jan 7 | 16 | 10-3 | 632 | 0 | 16 | -- | W 42-12 vs Virginia Tech (Sun) |
Note: UCLA's ranking in the final 1961 poll has been changed to unranked after the original AP wire story and poll was revisited and confirmed across several newspapers.